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Applied Sciences
Founder - Stealth Start-up
Ex. Head of Data Science, Google / SpaceX. Founder - Climax Foods
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Astrophysicist, Data Scientist & Mission-Driven Entrepreneur
Oliver Zahn, PhD, is a German–American astrophysicist and data scientist whose career bridges cutting-edge academic research and industry innovation with global impact.
As a theoretical cosmologist, Zahn directed the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, where he collaborated with Nobel laureates George Smoot and Saul Perlmutter. His pioneering research produced the first detection of gravitational lensing in the cosmic microwave background and introduced new statistical techniques to probe the early universe. Across more than 100 peer-reviewed publications - with over 14,000 citations - he advanced our understanding of galaxy formation and the cosmos’s earliest epochs.
Transitioning from academia, Zahn applied his expertise in large-scale data systems to industry, holding senior data science leadership roles at Google, SpaceX, and Impossible Foods. In 2019, he founded Climax Foods, a biotechnology company that uses AI and machine learning to develop next-generation plant-based foods. Climax aims to replace animal agriculture with sustainable, affordable and delicious alternatives - addressing climate change, animal welfare, and food security.
In the Frontier Technologies Laboratory, Zahn focusses on the interaction between the labs. He is part of a wider programme designing intelligent systems to aid cross-pollination and interdisciplinary science. The aim is to develop an understanding of how scientists can be incentivised to contribute their work to a shared database, which becomes an AI-assisted discovery/ solution acceleration platform. This platform keeps humans ‘in the loop’ and validates AI driven insights/ hypothesis through a collaborative, open, data enrichment model - a move towards truly collaborative ‘superintelligent systems’. As current LLM models see tiny improvements with significant resources, such novel models are likely to be key to unlocking the next wave of artificial intelligence in a more human-centric format.
Zahn’s trajectory reflects a consistent theme: harnessing science and computation to tackle humanity’s most pressing challenges. From exploring the origins of the universe to reshaping the future of food, his work is driven by both intellectual curiosity and a mission to create a positive planetary impact.
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